Convertible two door and four door sport utility vehicles (SUVs) have become an increasingly popular vehicle. Typically these vehicles are sold with collapsible soft tops standard on these vehicles. For many individuals, these convertible soft tops do not provide adequate weather or noise insulation. Additionally, it can be a rather arduous task to collapse and erect the soft tops on the vehicle, particularly on the 4-door vehicles.
Various types of removable hard tops have been made available and configured to replace the standard collapsible soft tops for the different convertible SUVs. These convertible hard tops provide significantly better weather and noise insulation than their soft top counterparts. However, in order to enjoy the convertible feature of the SUVs it is often desirable to remove the hard top.
A SUV removable hard top is typically configured to be easily attachable and detachable to the SUV. Typical SUV removable hard tops are relatively heavy, bulky, and awkward to handle. The size and weight present a significant problem for removal and installation, especially by one person working alone. Typically, a group of at least two people is required to remove or install SUV removable hard tops. In order to further share the weight load, a group of four people is preferable to lift and remove or install a removable hardtop, with each person handling or lifting each corner of the hardtop in concert with others in the group.
In order to simplify the process of installing and removing hardtops from the convertible SUVs, many owners will utilize specialized overhead lifts that are installed in their garages to perform this function. When utilizing these overhead lifts, owners will position their vehicle below the stationary lifts, and then connect the hardtop to the overhead lift, release the hardtop from the SUV, lift the hardtop above the SUV, and then drive the vehicle from underneath the lift and detached hardtop. Similarly, when installing the hardtop the vehicle will be positioned under the lift and hardtop, which will be then lowered onto the SUV.
While these lifts are an effective method of removing and installing convertible hardtops on an SUV, they can provide logistical issues. First and foremost, utilization of a lift as described above requires the owner of the vehicle to have a garage or other support structure available to install the hoist system onto. Not all owners of these types of vehicles have these facilities available to them. Additionally, these types of lifts are fixed and not portable. Therefore they may not be suitable for owners of these types of vehicles who may rent or who want to have the ability to remove the top from their vehicle at locations other than their home, such as when they are on vacation or a camping trip. Finally, most of these fixed position lift devices do not allow for parking vehicle in the garage while hard top is affixed to the device.
Thus, there exists a need for a freestanding apparatus which is capable of installing and removing a hardtop from a convertible SUV. It is also important that this apparatus be able to compactly store the hardtop while it is removed from the vehicle. Finally, it is important that this apparatus allow a single operator to perform the functions of installing, storing, and removing a removing a hardtop from a convertible SUV.